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Wednesday, February 22, 2017

The perks of being part of the squad! So yeah you may have seen a few weeks ago my post about the awarding ceremony wherein Maybelline brought together the most prolific bloggers who have supported them throughout the years to "officiate" them to be part of the Maybelline Squad. Weeell in reality it was much more casual and yeah I was part of those "prolific" bloggers. I say "prolific" because as per dictionary definition of "producing much fruit," I think that was the basis for the selection of us all. Everyone in the squad has been consistently producing Maybelline related content throughout the past few years and the "ceremony" was their way of recognizing that.

To make sure we never run out of Maybelline throughout the whole year, they sent us home with this massive supercalifragilisticexpialidocious traincase full of Maybelline items. I tried to compute and there were more or less Php15,000 worth of beauty products in the traincase, not counting the price of the traincase and the personalization fee they must have paid so that there's a metal plate with "Mari" written on it.

Just to make it clear for all eternity, me being part of Maybelline Squad doesn't mean I get any payment for being a member of the squad. I also never got paid any cash for all the blog work I've done for them. To the people who think I was bribed, nope, I wasn't. Bloggers are enthusiastic to talk about their products simply because they are enthusiastic to work with us, too. Liking their products doesn't mean my opinion was bought, it just means they made good stuff. Their products sometimes have hit or miss moments just like any other brand, but they are the creators of mascara and among the current leaders in masstige lipsticks, and no one can take that away from them.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Two Maybelline lovers got the surprise of their lives when Liza Soberano sold them Maybelline Clear Smooth All In One!!! See the video now!!! Who knows, it can happen to anyone of us one of these days?

These two girls went to SM North Edsa wanting to buy Maybelline Clear Smooth All In One powder again as one had already run out of hers. When Liza was making her sales pitch, they sort of knew that it was her but couldn't really fathom that it could actually be humanly possible for Liza to sell powder to them.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

My 4th time with the goddess!!! The 1% of a blogger's life is "cozying" to celebrities, and this is one of those days mehehehe (but well it's just 1% coz 99% of the time I'm a slave to my own backlog haha).

Lemme also just say that in all my years of blogging, this is historically the first event held so near to our house!!! In like 3++ years of attending events!!! I always dread the traffic to and from events because Makati and BGC means 5 hours on the road overall, and 5 hours in traffic= dead Mari. I heard Liza is a QC girl, too, so I think she liked that her event for Maybelline's Clear Smooth All In One Powder was held in the activity center of SM North EDSA The Block.

This event is also special as this is Liza's first consumer event with Maybelline. Since being launched as the new Maybelline girl last August, she has only done one press event thus far afaik, and the rest were digital activations. This is her first store activation, and fans were elated to see her.

Saturday, February 18, 2017

It pays to be a Charis babe!!! I brought home 1 lifetime's worth of products from their Beautiful Journey in Seoul last September. To be more exact, I brought home stuff from like 20+ brands, plenty of the brands sponsoring whole collections and product lines, which is why I really mean 1 lifetime's worth of items hahaha. Tomorrow a new batch of influencers will be going to Korea to have their own priceless experiences and bring home probably even more items this time around. To join in on the fun, here I am starting off with my stream of Charis related posts. Expect the trend for 2017.

So yeah... when I got back from the trip in September, I wasn't able to talk about the items immediately due to the existing backlogs I had (which still persist till now ahuhu). I am fixing that now, actually, by saying no to new projects so I can focus on the more important things like this.

I thought I'd start off with introductions here on the blog through posts like these because if I wait to make each product a review it'll take forever to introduce everything. This is Beige Chuu, the makeup brand under Chuu, an umbrella lifestyle brand comprising clothing, lingerie, and makeup. One of the things we did was to go to their flagship store. I was able to meet the image models, explore the whoooole building they have in HongDae, and basically soak up some youthful vibes because I may be 22 but I'm already like a granny already with how haggard I am. Hahahaha..

Friday, February 10, 2017

Summer is upon us!!! The exciting part about summer is that brands often shower us bloggers with sun care products, this year being no exception. Sample Room graciously sent over Belo Sun Care boxes featuring the sun care range Belo has. I honestly have never bought any Belo item before being exposed to them through Sample Room. They market sooo heavily and I've seen them in tons of commercial and print ads, but I never got around to buying any Belo product myself. My first Belo purchase was their Baby cologne. I tried one through Sample Room (I tried the yellow one), went crazy for it, then bought the rest. Indeed, the power of trial is an indispensable tool for consumers of the 21st century.

Just as an aside, I totally love their cologne. Their colognes are the most long lasting fragrances I've ever encountered, and they work so well to combat the smell of sweat. I make sure I use them everyday under whatever fragrance I plan to use because no matter what my mood is, I still wanna smell baby good at the end of the day.

Okaaay, so going back, they sent over sprays, creams, and tinted ones. They sent sunscreen in almost every format imaginable, so I thought that in this post I'd share my thoughts on each one and which kind of people each product will best work for.

Thursday, February 09, 2017

Thank you Garnier for all the goodies!!! 2017 looks bright even just from February's standpoint coz I'm excited to try and review all these items. I didn't grow up with Garnier as a teen, and thus far I haven't really had the opportunity to explore the brand. But of course, given the immense acclaim Garnier's products have garnered (see what I did derrr) throughout generations, there really just must be something special about the brand.

I was overwhelmed by this gift pack sent by the team because I don't remember being asked about this beforehand. Like I agreed to receiving a micellar water gift pack, but not this one. But I ain't complaining? Who has the right to complain with this kind of loot in sight? Ain't nobody got time fo dat!!!

Wednesday, February 08, 2017

Korean products always make me giddy!!! ALLLLL DAAAA TIME OKAY!!! I did not expect to receive a Christmas gift from AGC (aka the exclusive distributor of Etude House, Tony Moly, Leaders, and the holding company behind Yoree and Boulangerie 22) because they did have a Christmas party but I wasn't able to attend. I was sooooo shocked when I came home to a package from them!!! They didn't have to and yet they did, it's so sweet of them. So for this post I'll be showing what they sent as well as explaining some of the other products from their brands which I have been loving as of late or would like to talk about. I think 2016 was not a very strong K-beauty year in my blog as I covered more Western brands. I hope 2017 can help me reach a balance.

Tuesday, February 07, 2017

I am soooo soooorrrryyyy!!! This took soooo loooong!!! I'm currently restrucuturing my blog uploads. I have long been having a lot of inefficiencies when I produce content, so I'm trying my best to get rid of inefficiency, even if it means having some posts get stuck first. I'm trying to blog in cycles instead of first in first out, so yeah it's long and complicated that I might need to explain in one whole video in itself.

For now, let's talk about the #NeverFail box from L'oréal! The Infallible range has long been heavily acclaimed in the US, and so its arrival to the Philippines has been met with much enthusiasm. Though reception as of late has been mixed, especially with regards to the foundation, at the core, each item is designed to be as long lasting as possible.

Tuesday, February 07, 2017

Gah I am so sorry world my backlogs are crazy, too crazy that I can't even talk about cool things like these!!! I feel so bad whenever epic posts like these get stuck in the pipeline coz I really want to talk about these already. gahhhhh

Anways, this is, I think, the Althea box that broke the most hearts because this is by far the one with the most expensive contents, and therefore, the box where one can save the most. But other than that, I totally loved the concept of this Superfoods Box as I enjoyed everything fruit and nature themed they had here. I didn't know plenty of the products, so exploring them was a pleasant surprise.

Monday, February 06, 2017

Twice the gifts, twice the blog posts! So yeah Céleteque gave such a gracious gift last Christmas of basically every single thing in their new collection.

And then to my shock I had no idea that the BDJ Box that was coming my way was their Céleteque collaboration box. So I got the same items twice! Look out loved ones, you're getting Céleteque for Christmas!!! I'm so excited to be sharing this with friends and family within the year. And yes expiry is like 2019 so yes I can afford to give these for Christmas this year and the recipients would still have enough time to use them hahahaa

So these are the same items as in my BDJ post, the only difference being that now, I have tried all the items except the concealer so I have a good idea of how they work already. I'm making the reviews slowly one by one, but since it'd take time, I thought I'd share my summarized thoughts here.

Sunday, February 05, 2017

I think it's safe to say it's every girl's childhood dream to be Miss Universe and to be a mermaid. And I think the universe somehow transpired in 2016 to make the mermaid dream a reality. The Miss Universe one, well, is harder because there are only 65 of them to date. As for mermaids, I think there are more because of all the mermaid themed merchandise. Everything related to seashells, hologram, and big hair seemed to make waves last year (no pun intended).

Althea decided it'd do a fresh take on the whole mermaid theme. When this box came, I wondered why there's nothing that's traditionally mermaid themed. No hologram eyeshadows or nail polish. No shell themed nail stickers. None of the crazy rainbow makeup brushes we loved in 2016. Nope. Nada.

But I think they were on to something with this curated box. They instead wanted to create an experience to let every single recipient live out a mermaid's life with glowing skin and beautiful hair.

Saturday, February 04, 2017

Want to know how intense my backlog is? Well I think "Christmas gift posts in February" is enough evidence already hahaha. I am currently on blog hiatus meaning I want to rest and not accept new projects, but I am still quite busy over backlogs.

Thursday, February 02, 2017

Manila, Philippines – 2017 marks its way in Canon’s history as the company celebrates its 20th
year in the Philippines. In celebration of this milestone, Canon Marketing
Philippines, Inc. (CMPI) has announced several products, promos, and plans that
Filipinos can expect in the year ahead.

“We are grateful for the
unwavering support of Filipinos to our brand in the last 20 years. We were able
to get this far because of their trust on us in helping them achieve their
imaging and printing needs through our expertise in technology,” said Lim Kok
Hin, CMPI President & CEO. “As we celebrate this milestone, we also
remember our commitment to our Filipino customers and clients to provide them
only the best quality of service and products that they deserve—and that is
what we have planned out for the year ahead.”

Among the key highlights
that the company announced for the year were:

·Canon Inc. will celebrate
in March the 30th anniversary of the launch of the company’s
EOS System, which includes EOS-series interchangeable lens cameras and a
diverse range of system accessories, beginning with interchangeable EF Lenses.

·The Canon #getMpowered
campaign that launched last year continues in 2017. It aims to inspire more
individuals to capture their life’s passion through photography, then share and
express themselves to the world effortlessly with the help of Canon’s EOS M
mirrorless cameras—the EOS M5, EOS M3, and EOS M10.

In addition to these, in
2017, Filipinos can expect several new products from Canon including the
following:

·Designed for lifestyle
photographers, the new PowerShot G9 X
Mark II is an addition to the PowerShot G Series line of premium digital
compact cameras that features the latest DIGIC 7 image processor to produce
high quality images and new levels of performance for accurate detection and
precision tracking of subjects.

·Expanding the PowerShot SX and IXUS range are
the new PowerShot SX430 IS, which is a high zoom compact camera perfect
for landscape and distance photography, and the ultra-compact IXUS 190
and IXUS 185, which are perfect for everyday photography.

·The PIXMA Ink Efficient G4000 with WIFI & FAX is an upgrade to the
G series printers with its integrated ink tank design. This brings Canon
further in the game of low-cost, high-volume, multi-function printing that
makes home offices and small businesses more efficient, more cost-effective and
consequently, more profitable.

·Lastly, the newest additions to the
line of Ink Efficient All-In-One printers are the PIXMA Ink Efficient E410 and E470.
These are the latest printers equipped with low-cost, high yield ink cartridges
to ensure affordable cost of operation.

Along with these new
products, Canon will be rolling out a series of exciting 20th
anniversary special promos this year as its way of giving back to its valued
clients and consumers.

Meanwhile, as Canon also
gears up for a full year ahead, it announced new assignments and additions to
its local management team. Kristine Dacanay, previously CMPI’s Marketing
Manager for Business Imaging Solutions and Production Printing Group (BPG), now
oversees the overall marketing communication initiatives of CMPI’s Consumer
Group and BPG alongside Lim. Dacanay has been with CMPI for ten years now, and
has been instrumental in optimizing Canon’s marketing efforts throughout the
years.

In addition to this, Benny
Yu joins in as the new head of CMPI’s Consumer Group. His role promises more
aggressive efforts to bring Canon’s consumer portfolio forward and beyond in
the Philippines.

“In Canon, we delight in
bringing to our customers and clients the right products and services they need
to help improve their lives and enable them to achieve their image of success,”
said Dacanay. “You can only expect that this year and in the years to come, we
will only strive to be better and offer nothing less of what Filipinos deserve
from our brand of crisp and vivid images.”

For updates on promos and
new products, visit www.canon.com.ph and www.canon.com.ph/imagenation.

Thursday, February 02, 2017

The Heussaff's are always our heroes. Be it translating the right thing Miss France said in Miss Universe or making sure we all beat energy gap, they got us fam.

They are currently the ambassadors for Milo Nutri-Up, Milo's take on the adult market. While this is also sure to help us beat energy gap, this has 30% more calcium and 50% more protein than the original variant to better accommodate adult needs. Perfect for Crossfit and perfect for those who want to build muscle power. The best part is it tastes like our childhood favorite!

There are plenty of protein shakes out there and for non serious bodybuilders like me, I feel like I don't need the protein levels in them. I would much rather have something tastier like Milo Nutri-Up even if it may not have the protein levels in legit protein shakes... Patay Gutom Mari is Patay Gutom Mari...

Eneweyysss, I was so honored to have been invited!!! It was a dream come true to see my goddess Solenn and goddess Ellen work out together. I personally idolize them both not just for fitness and beauty, but because they mainly are so good in shutting down negativity online. They know when to keep mum and they know when to call people out. As a blogger, it's that aspect of theirs that makes them the most relatable to me.

The Blogger

Mari is a random human who likes cats, makeup, and having an online playground. Doll Up Mari is the place where you, ehem, doll up Mari. This is a Pinay beauty blog run by a citizen living in the Philippines who is still looking for a less grand term than Pinay Beauty Guru to refer to herself.

Mari is still figuring out how to use a management degree while drowning in kitty fur and can work part time as a PR strategist aside from her meow-my duties.